The expedition to the Palmer Cavern Complex had kept the band of intrepid cavers beneath the surface of the Earth for three weeks. All had enjoyed the time away from the bustle and cares of life. Going half a mile into the Earth itself was certainly a way to "get away from it all."

The group returned to the surface. Their trucks and SUVs were intact.

And utterly inoperable.

Even the GPS devices, run by batteries independent of the vehicle's power, were dead as a doornail. A PSP, forgotten at the surface, was dead. A calculator, dead. An old cell phone...no way to charge it. An iPod--dead.

Yet there was no visible damage to anything. The vehicles were still locked, with no sign of being forced...

This story will be freeform. It will rather quickly become rough and gritty. NC sex will abound. The story will begin when the expedition discovers its vehicles are disabled. The focus of the story will be painful discovery of what has happened to the world...and survival amongst those who managed to live through What Happened While We Were Away.

** Reopened to new players. You have the option of starting with the cave expedition or elsewhere in the country, in the same story universe. **

I think I could get into this sort of thing... So this little expedition was made purely for fun, right? A little spelunking to escape from the rigors of the civilized world, as it were. I'm intrigued that the danger actually comes after their return to the surface, especially after so many years of exploring the horror genre...

For my character: how about the spelunking expert that led them down into the caverns in the first place? In other worse, the person that would have either known the caverns well, or would be well-versed in exploring cave systems safely in general. If it is a bunch of friends taking the trip in the first place, she wouldn't necessarily have been well acquainted with all of them beforehand. Perhaps one of them, to whom she might have suggested the idea of a cave-exploring vacation in the first place.

I think I could get into this sort of thing... So this little expedition was made purely for fun, right? A little spelunking to escape from the rigors of the civilized world, as it were. I'm intrigued that the danger actually comes after their return to the surface, especially after so many years of exploring the horror genre...

For my character: how about the spelunking expert that led them down into the caverns in the first place? In other worse, the person that would have either known the caverns well, or would be well-versed in exploring cave systems safely in general. If it is a bunch of friends taking the trip in the first place, she wouldn't necessarily have been well acquainted with all of them beforehand. Perhaps one of them, to whom she might have suggested the idea of a cave-exploring vacation in the first place.

This one caught my attention when I first read it. But I couldn't come up with a character who would go caving. I've got an idea now, which other people could get involved with if they want.

So, I'm thinking about playing a hot geology student. This is Amy Knudsen.

She's been dragged out to the caves by her professor, as an "extra credit assignment". His midlife crisis has manifested itself as an infatuation with her, and he just wanted to spend more time with her/actually get into her sleeping bag. She knows this, and is nowhere near actually interested in him, but is playing along because she needs the extra credit. Now the trip is over she's looking forward to getting back to her real life.

How does that sound as a concept? It means we'd need a professor, but that could be an opportunity for a guy to join in. Whether the apocalypse would bring out the hero ("now I can earn her love!") or the villain ("it's not as if she can dial 911 any more") in him would be up to the player. There could possibly be space for another student as well, although, how many hot young geology students are there really?

oh so it's based on dies the fire, seems interesting but never could get into the book goddess knows i tried, but his earler series draka is REALLY really good , i know this is going to feel kinda bossy bout what about a draka campaign as well.

oh so it's based on dies the fire, seems interesting but never could get into the book goddess knows i tried, but his earler series draka is REALLY really good , i know this is going to feel kinda bossy bout what about a draka campaign as well.

I would say my campaign contains certain carefully selected elements of Dies the Fire, but I would not go so far as to call it "based on" that book or its story universe.